Staying at home: Bring Christmas in the Alps to your living room.
Over this festive period, we know many of you would be getting ready to head out to ski with us. As we all prepare for a somewhat unusual Christmas, we thought we’d give you 5 ideas for how to get that familiar ‘ski holiday feeling’ in your front room this year!
1. The firesides’ blazing bright.
Set the cosy chalet mood by lighting the fire. If you don’t have a fire, fear not! Netflix offers a feature which will transform your TV into a fireplace — sound effects and all. Why not whack the heating up to get the full effect? Just type ‘fireplace’ into the Netflix search bar and pick your favourite.
2. It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas…
Light some seasonal-scented candles to really set the scene for the evening, such as these:
- The White Company ‘Winter’
- Charles Farris ‘A Winter’s Tale’
- Neom ‘Christmas Wish’
- John Lewis ‘Winter Spice’
3. Un vin chaud, s’il vous plait.
It’s Christmas — get the ski-chalet drinks flowing with our homemade vin chaud recipe:
Ingredients:
· 1 litre of red wine — just a good ‘everyday’ wine will do
· ¼ litre of orange juice
· Half an orange, thinly sliced
· 100g granulated sugar
· 1 stick of cinnamon
· 4 star anise
· 2 cloves
Method:
In a big saucepan, dissolve the sugar with the red wine and orange juice on a low heat. Add the orange slices and spices and keep on a low heat for 20 minutes. Don’t let it boil! Turn off the heat after 20 minutes and allow the flavours to infuse for 5 minutes before serving. Sante!
To add a boozy boost to your vin chaud, our insider tip is to soak your fruit in tequila for a week before… Go steady on the refills!
4. Festive Fromage!
Cheese is always on the menu in a ski resort, so here’s how to re-create a fondue at home (serves 8):
Ingredients:
- 450g each of Emmental, Comte and Gruyere cheeses, grated
- 1 cup of dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon of cornflour
- 1 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 capful of Kirsh
- Pinch of pepper
Method:
In a fondue pot, heat up (but don’t boil) the white wine, garlic and pepper. When the wine is hot, add the cheese slowly and stirring continuously to make sure it’s melted before adding the next lot. Once all the cheese is in and melted, add in the Kirsch and the cornflour and stir until you have a lovely, smooth fondue. Transfer the pot from your hob to your table over the fondue flame and get stuck in with bread and some charcuterie!
5. Les treize desserts… Yes, really!
And, if you need another reason to over indulge this holiday season, check out this little French Christmas tradition.
In some parts of France, a whopping 13 different desserts are eaten on Christmas day! These desserts are made up of things like fruit, nuts and pastries, so all delicious. Each dessert is representative of Christ and the 12 disciples at the Last Supper and traditionally, everyone should have a taste of each dessert to receive good luck in the coming year.
Any excuse to have a bite of 13 desserts sounds good to us, so count us in!
